Control attachment for fountains of platen printing-presses.



H. E. SAUNDERS &- R. D. CROFT. CONTROL ATTACHMENT FOR POUNTAINS OF PLATBN PRINTING PRESSES.

' AIPLIOATION FILED MAY 26,1910.

970,355. Patented s tjls, 1910.

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HARRY E. SAUNDERS AND ROBERT D. CROFT, OF TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA.

CONTROL ATTACHMENT FOR FOUNTAINS OF PLATEN PRINTING-PRESSES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 13, 1910.

Application filed May 25, 1910. Serial No. 563,350.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HARRY E. SAUNDERS and ROBERT D. CROFT, both subjects of the King of Great Britain, and residents of the city of Toronto, in the county of York, Province of Ontario, in the Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Control Attachments for the Fountains of Platen Printing- Presses; and we do hereby declare that the full, clear, and exact description of the same.

The invention relates to improvements in control attachments for the fountain of as described in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings that form part of the same.

The invention consists essentially in the novel construction and arrangement of parts, whereby the fountain actuating mechanism is retained inoperative by an obstructing member adapted to be moved into engagement therewith.

The objects of the invention are, to obviate the difliculties incident to the regular automatic feeding of the ink in the event of the operator missing one or more sheets, to save time and material, and to devise a simple and inexpensive means for insuring a uniform supply of ink for every sheet printed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a platen printing press showing the control device attached thereto. Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the controlling foot lever showing the means for limiting its movement.

Like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure.

Referring to the drawings, 1 is a platen printing press of a well known type having a main operating crank shaft 2 suitably journaled in the frame 3.

4 is the ink fountain supported from the frame 3 having the weighted operating lever 5 pivotally supported at one side thereof and cooperating with the cam 6 rotating with the shaft 2, the weighted end of said lever rising and falling on each revolution of the said shaft.

7 is a lug extending from the weighted end of the lever 5.

8 is an obstructing member preferably formed of a flexible strip of spring metal rigidly secured at one end to the frame of the press by the bolts 9 and extending upwardly therefrom. The upper end of the obstructing member 8 is adapted to be moved under the lug 7 and when in such position the lever 5 is held from dropping into the recess in its operating cam and consequently the feeding mechanism of the fountain is held inoperative.

10 is a lever, here shown pivotally secured to the bolt 11 secured in the base of the printing press, said lever having the wing portion 12 thereof offset to one side of the bolt hole and formed with a lug 1.3 projecting rearwardly therefrom, said lug having a hole 14 therethrough.

15 is a notch formed portion of the lever 10.

16 is a pin secured in the base of the press and extending upwardly into the notch 15 adapted to be engaged by the end walls of the notch to limit the movement of said lever.

17 is a spiral spring having one looped end thereof extending through the hole 18 arranged intermediate of the length of the obstructing member 8. 19 is a chain or cord connected at one end to the opposite end of the spring 17 and at the other end to the lug 13.

The pivotal lever 10 is here shown pivotally supported from the base of the n'ess, but it must be understood that it con d be secured to the floor adjacent to the press if so desired, so long as it is arranged within reach of the foot of the operator.

In the operation of this device, the feed mechanism of the fountain operates automatically and feeds a certain pre-determined amount of ink at each revolution of the main shaft, the weighted end of the lever 5 falling into a recess in the cam 6. In the event of the press-man missing a sheet of aper, he throws the lever 10 to one side with his foot. The swinging of the lever draws forwardly on the chain 19 and through the spring 17 draws the obstructing member forwardly so that its upper end is brought under the lug 7 projecting from the lever 5. The lever 10 is so arranged that when turned to one side, the chain is drawn past the center and consequently remains in that position through the tension of the spring 17 pullim thereagainst. The press may be allowec to run any length of time with the fountain feed mechanism held inoperative and as soon as in the flat pivotal the operator is ready to feed in another sheet the lever is thrown in the opposite direction, thus releasing the obstructing member and allowing it to spring clear of the lever 5 so that the said lever will operate the feed mechanism of the fountain on the neXt revolution of the main shaft. By throwing the obstructing member into engagement with the operating lever of the fountain the said fountain isrestrained from feeding a supply of ink to the feed rollers, consequently said feed rollers will not have an excessive amount of ink to deposit on the type for the neXt succeeding sheets to be printed, consequently the sheets will not be spoiled by having too much ink on them.

The device is very simple and is easily and quickly adapted to many of the ordinary forms of platen printing presses and is operated by the foot and brings the machine into perfect control, thereby not only saving materials but effecting a considerable saving of the time of the operator.

The obstructing member is herein shown and described as a spring arm secured to the frame of the machine but it must be understood that other forms of members may be adopted without departing from the spirit of the invention, so long as the main feature of bringing an obstructing member into engagement with the fountain feed mechanism to temporarily arrest the operation of the same, is adhered to.

What we claim as our invention is 1. In a control attachment for the fountain of platen printing presses, the combination with a pivotal lever operatively connected with the ink fountain, of a flexible spring arm rigidly secured at one end to the frame of the press and adapted to be swung into engagement with said lever, a lever pivotally secured at the front of the press, and a flexible connection extending from said pivotal lever to said flexible spring arm and connected thereto intermediate of the length thereof.

2. In a control attachment for the founthe lug on said weighted end, a lever pivot-55 ally supported at the front of the press, and flexible means connected to said spring strip intermediate of its length and to said pivotal ever.

3. I11 a control attachment for the fountain of platen printing presses, the combination with a weighted lever operating the fountain mechanism, of an obstructing member adapted to be swung into engagement with said lever to retain said lever inoperative, a foot lever pivotally arranged at the front of the machine and having a lug extending therefrom arranged out of central alinement with the pivot thereof, a spiral spring secured to said obstructing member intermediate of its length, a cord or chain connected to the other end of said spiral spring and to the offset lug on said foot lever, and means for limiting the pivotal movement of the said foot lever.

4. In a control attachment for the fountain of platen printing presses, the combination with a weighted lever operating the fountain mechanism, of an obstructing member adapted to be swung into engagement with said lever to retain said lever inoperative, a foot lever having a notch therein, a rigid member extending into said notch to limit the pivotal movement of said foot lever, and an elastic member connecting said obstructing member with said foot lever.

Signed at the city of Toronto, county of York, Province of Ontario, in the Dominion of Canada, this 19th day of May 1910.

HARRY E. SAUNDERS. ROBERT D. CROFT. WVitnesses':

H. DENNISON, E. HERON. 

